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I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited. I’ve been anticipating Christmas since October. That’s what happens when the country where you live doesn’t have a summer or fall. If I have to live in cold weather, I might as well make the most of it. In this case, that’s looking forward to Christmas.
Christmas means different things to different people. Kids look at it as a time for presents. Some adults look at it as a time to get together with crazy relatives they like to talk about the rest of the year. For me, it usually means time off from work. This year it means a plane ride home for me and catching up on movies and videos.
Christmas also means putting the Porsche away for many of us. This has been a problem for me, since I don’t have a place to park my car here in Germany yet. My apartment building has no garage space. I’ve been moving my car from parking lot to parking lot, trying to keep the local polizei from becoming too suspicious. It’s kind of like the MX missiles back in the 1980s, which where shipped from silo to silo to keep the Russians guessing. I’ll have to start using covered garages soon, though. I heard the police were borrowing leftover Soviet spy satellites to track my car down. If there’s a way to charge someone a fine for parking here, the police will find a way to do it.
I was able to take the car out for a long trip before the cold, wet weather set in. The biggest thing that I noticed was that my gas mileage went down from about 25 mpg to 15 mpg on the autobahn. That means my effective range dropped from about 400 miles to under 250 miles. I was going to boast about driving about 320 miles in less than 3.5 hours (about the distance from Detroit to Indianapolis, or almost to Milwaukee), but I know someone who’s gone faster in the States at about the same distance. Unfortunately for her, the police tend to know her by sight.
I bet you’re starting to dream of taking your Porsche to the autobahn, aren’t you? I know I would be. What came to mind as I was driving the car was that I wasn’t really driving all that fast. The speeds I was driving wasn’t much faster than in rental cars that I’ve driven from the airport. The big difference is that when I went to go pass someone in the rental car after they got out of my way, it took a while to actually get by them. In the 944 Turbo, the pass was over in a blink.
My favorite part is that if I wanted to go REALLY fast, I could. A Mercedes once passed me in a speed zone. He was driving much faster than the limit. Feeling indignant, I wanted to pass him after the speed zone ended. I was able to drive at high speeds for extended periods of time to catch him, and I only caught myself looking for my non-existent radar detector once. Old habits die hard. But enough gloating.
My last comment on autobahn driving in a Porsche - it can be very scary. At closure speeds of 60 to 80 mph with other cars, all it takes is someone who wasn’t looking at his mirror to really ruin your day, if not soil your leather seats. If I had to make a choice, I would prefer driving out West in the States. There’s significantly less traffic, although you do have to watch out for the odd mountain goat wandering about, or a rancher taking his herd of cattle out for a walk.
(Lonely Autobahn’s Early Fog -- photo by EMan Nov-1998)
So as visions of “Big Red” brakes go dancing in our heads, let’s not forget the real reason for this Christmas season. And don’t forget to smile once in a while when you’re out in the malls. Remember, it could be worse. You could be shopping in German stores instead.
Finally, my car takes 225/50R16s up front, and 245/45R16s in the back. That’s just in case you were wondering what size racing tires to get for it this year.
| << November 1998<< | >> January 1999>> |
(The BahnStormer is the official newsletter of the Rally Sport Region (Detroit area) of the Porsche Club of America. You can contact the editor at .)
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